Marketing Times, an SMEI publication, recently posted an article entitled Generating Business Online which covers a variety of concepts to help entrepreneurs grow an Internet-based business. The topics covered include developing an online marketing plan, tips on website design, content development and search engine optimization.

The complete article is available on publisher’s website and can be downloaded by clicking here.

By Jeremy Hoover

Building links and backlinks is part of marketing your site. But the truth is–if all you do is context-less links, the search engines will eventually downgrade your site in their engines.

This is how you should create backlinks:

1. Write articles (with a live hyperlink to your site in your resource box) and submit to at least 3 directories, including EzineArticles.com. This will create backlinks at at least 3 sites. Then, approach webmasters and website owners about posting your article on their website. Make a list of the top sites in your industry and work down, contacting five per day. Many won’t be interested, but those who are can really help you. Not only will you get another backlink to your site, but you might also build a strategic business relationship.

2. Comment at blogs–but make sure you are commenting with quality information. Do not blog-spam! Most blogs will let you leave a link to your website when you comment on their blog. This will also generate backlinks to your site when the search engines spider these blogs.

3. Post in forums. But follow the same advice as above–don’t just post “Nice comment,” or spam the forum with something dumb. Focus on answering questions with quality information or asking good, quality questions. You can get a sense for these by reading the forum a bit first before you start posting.

All three methods create backlinks for you because you can leave your website link (live and hyperlinked) in each case. This also creates passive traffic for you. Since your focus is on posting/writing quality info (adding value), people will be attracted to you as a marketer of interest and link through to your website.

Who knows? Maybe they’ll even buy from you….

Change your life and business for the better at Success University. Jeremy will help you.

Read more of Jeremy’s marketing tips at his blog.

I recently began testing the Eurekster Swicki custom search engine service. I like testing new web applications, but I was interested in this product for two reasons. Firs,t I was curios to learn how this little search upstart was going to make a differennce in a landscape of Google, Yahoo and MSN search. Second, I wanted to understand how this integrated search module was going to affect search results in the major engines.

What I found is pretty interesting to me and I think will be to others who rely upon search marketing to grow their business. In essence, something about Eurekster’s Swiki configuration gives it an advantage in the Google search algorithm. That is, its results are disproportionately ranked – or to use a Googlism the results are “non-democratic”.

To understand this claim, it’s worth presenting a bit of data. These search aborations, which I call the “Swicki Effect”, can be seen consistently in 3 different Swickis. Each of these Swickis was created with the last 30 days — in one case the Swicki was only a week or so old. The Swickis include a variety of keywords. The sites, keywords, rankings and swickis can be reviewed in detail here.

I don’t mean to pick on Google. In fact, 3 of the 4 major search engines, including Google, AOL and MSN, are all suscepitble to Eurekster’s Swicki Effect. Google, however, is the supposed leader in the bunch when it comes to returning reliable search results. So slinging mudd in its direction is only fair.

The noteable exception to the Swicki Effect is Yahoo. I raise this, not just becauseit is obvious, but rather because it supports a hunch that I have. Specifically, that Yahoo really is the leading search algorithm, not Google. I suspect that the real champs at Google are not all those whiz bang engineers.

I think the smartest guys and gals in the Googleplex might just be the marketers. After all, they were the ones that figured out that a stripped-down, bare bones website with a sort of cute logo could beat out the incumbents and sell more ad links. The marketers were the ones that recognized the convergence of the Internet and the growing distrust by Americans of large corporations.

Grassroots Google rises as the walled-garden of AOL (Time Warner) slides. MSN goes nowhere, managing to not lose ground via acquisition and reverse engineering. Yahoo coasts, continuing to introduce product at a pace similar to Google, but certainyl without the same results.

Google’s entire business, in fact, is predicated on the notion that search engine users trust their results more than any others. Certainly it is as easy to search via any of the above, so without the perception of trust, what other than force of habit will sustain Googles leadership?

Said differently, how premium is Google receiving from advertisers because they believe there is a premium value – the value of a trusted envronment ? If Google’s perception in the eyes’ of consumers or business users tarnishes, can Google be dethroned as te search leader? And what is the consequential effect on Google’s earnings potentials if site usage begins to drop even marginally?